Nine months after the construction began in June 2019, the chilled capabilities of Maersk’s own cold store in St. Petersburg are operational, addressing the needs of a high-demand Russian market. In the near future, the facility will also offer freezing capabilities in a separate storage chamber for frozen produce (-25°C).
The first container to arrive at the new warehouse brought pears from Argentina after a 26-day journey and was unloaded swiftly into the chilled chamber operating at a temperature of 0.5 Celsius. In total, more than 60 Maersk’s refrigerated containers were scheduled to arrive at the facility as part of the end-to-end service from Argentina, as well as grapes and apples originating from South Africa.
“The full end-to-end offering will allow our customers to enjoy the shorter overall lead time, predictable costs and best in class service,” said Zsolt Katona, Managing Director, Eastern Europe at Maersk during the inauguration of the first reefer container.
The new cold store operated by Maersk has a total capacity of more than 40 000 pallets in 3 chambers and uses CO2 cooling, which makes it the largest commercial cold store in Russia using this new technology. Over the next months, as part of its Cold Chain Management product, Maersk will also establish on-site customs clearance, bonded cold storage (frozen) and phytosanitary/veterinary services, as increased interest by both current and prospective customers underpins Maersk’s strategy of providing integrated solutions for reefer logistics.